Berger, Papert Are Ice Champions

Favorites Harald Berger of Austria and Ines Papert of Germany won the 2004 Ice Climbing World Championships in Switzerland. Berger was overall winner of the 2003 Ice World Cup and recently flashed the M12 climb Vertical Limits in Switzerland. (There is no Ice World Cup this year.) Evgeny Kriovsheitsev of the Ukraine placed second and Samuel Anthamatten of Switzerland was third at the world championships, which were held inside a frigid multistory parking garage at the Swiss ski resort of Saas-Fee. Simon Anthamatten, winner at the recent Ouray Ice Festival in Colorado, finished seventh in Saas-Fee. Women’s champion Ines Papert also won in Ouray — in fact, she finished second among all climbers in Colorado, male and female. She also recently redpointed Vertical Limits, which has seen far more ascents than any other route given M12. Natalia Koulikova of Russia finished second in Saas-Fee, and Kirsten Buchmann of Germany was third. Koulikova won the women’s speed-climbing comp, while Alexandre Matveev of Russia was the fastest man.